Customer Reviews

OCP: Oracle9i DBA Fundamentals II Study Guide

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you use only this book, you will not pass the exam. The practice exams include topics that are not covered anywhere in the book. The level of detail provided by both the exams and the content is not sufficient to pass the real exam. I scored 95% - 100% consistently on all exams in this book including the 3 bonus exams on the cdrom and still did not pass the real exam. I found that the real exam covered several topics that either were not covered at all in this book or did not provide the level of detail or understanding necessary to pass the exam.

I passed the exam and used this book during my study but fortunately not only this book.

Pros
- The book is clear and quite pleasant to read
- You certainly need to know what's in this book to pass the exam

Cons
- All subjects in the test list are covered but not in depth
- During this Oracle certification exam, you will have basic questions about backup/recovery and Oracle networks concepts. You will certainly be able to answer these questions if you have a good understanding of the content of this book. On the other hand, you will also have "mastery" questions which required an in depth knowledge of the subject (mainly of commands). The answer to these questions is simply not in this book. Approximatively 1 question out of 3 are concerned which in my opinion is too much.

Having used the previous two study guides in the set for Oracle 9i DBA OCP, I found the third book (this one) to be missing the depth the first two had. I've been using Oracle's online documentation to supplement my study. This book gave me a good overview for starting, but the authors seem to pick a few examples for mostly illustrative purposes, and the questions just didn't do the subject material justice. I expect more from a study guide than just that. Organization could be better too. (Same goes for Oracle's docs.) There are so many convoluted ways to backup/restore/recover that a study guide needs to bring it all together in a concise summary. Of course that's a good exercise left to the student, along with the some hands-on stuff, which I need to get back to. I just wish I had a study guide that made better sense of it all.

I used the book to prep for the exam and passed, but barely. My first two tests I passed with about 95% correct, but on this exam I passed with just 2 questions to spare. I believe that the questions on the actual test are significantly harder than the questions in the book and CD. There are also more inconsistencies and minor errors in this book than in other Sybex books.
There were several questions on the actual exam that I answered correctly as a direct result of preparation with this book. There were other questions on the exam that were similar to those in the book, but the exam went into more detail on syntax and options.

I used this book as supplement and the oracle press book (R. Velpuri) as main reference. This book published by sybex does not account for all the objectives covered in the exam (1z0-032). The books covers some of the topics but not into details. I read the whole book twice and gained some knowledge out of it but I believe it is not a complete study guide for preparing for the exam. I also used the practice exam questions on the CD.

You're not going to get certified with this book, but the CD is pretty good at testing your Backup and Recovery knowledge. The CD also quizzes you on Recovery Manager (RMAN), parameter files, Import, Export, SQL Loader and Listener Control utility. Everyone here is accurate; that Oracle DBA II test is very difficult to pass with this book alone, but any practice test helps.

The text could be more thorough, it just seems to leave me needing to ask questions. Could be better if it had a glossary.
Organizization is poor, it seems to mislead you about a few topics. (I had no trouble with Fundamentals I, which was much better)

Test questions too easy.

I am going to need to find another book which covers the material before I dare take the test.

As I write this review I am still in class for Oracle OCP. What makes this book so invaluable is that the class is fast-paced and often zips past important topics. This book has allowed me to dig deeper into topics covered during class and fill in material that the instructor either missed or glossed over.

This book focuses on Oracle networking, backup and recovery and SQL*Loader. It not only gives the essentials in study format, but does an excellent job of explaining each of the topics clearly and succinctly. Although I am using this book to get through the training and to also prepare for my OCP exam, I will also keep it as a reference when I begin putting my certification to use as a new DBA.

I cannot make claims about how the material in this book addresses the actual exam since I haven't taken them, but it has significantly helped me keep up in a fast-paced training course.